In preparation for this interview, I went onto Diego's Instagram profile. His bio reads: “Future World Champion”. Remind you of anyone? I think most of us saw that TV interview with a six year old Novak Djokovic saying that his aim was “to become No. 1 in the World”. And we all know how that story went… So, ahead of the biggest fight of Diego’s life so far, I talked to him and his British head coach Paul Hamilton (a former professional boxer and trainer of world champions with 35 years of boxing experience), to find out more about the spectacle that they are bringing to Mallorca in June, how they are preparing and what are their future plans.
Q: Please introduce yourself. Who is Diego?
Diego: I am a 20-year-old professional boxer born in Mallorca – in Palma - to Bulgarian parents. I have been boxing for about 10 years, I started very young. I was with the Spanish National Team for a while and then we decided to go professional.
Q: How and why did you get into the sport?
Diego: Honestly, there was no specific reason why I started boxing. I never did well at school, so eventually I dropped out. I always liked fighting… A boxing gym was near my house, and after checking it out, I knew it was where I wanted to be. Boxing was what I wanted to do.
Q: What is your typical day like? How much time does it take to train professionally?
Diego: If I am in camp (preparing for a fight) I have a strict routine; I get up early, train, eat a pre-planned meal, have a nap, train some more and eat again. My training varies between 10k runs, strength and conditioning training, sprints, bike and cardio, and of course boxing. There is no time for private life while I am in camp. My full focus is on preparing for the fight. When I am out of camp my days are a bit more relaxed than that.
Q: Who are the people around you that help it all happen?
Diego: My family supports me. My team includes my head coach Paul Hamilton, strength coach Danny Garcia, nutritionist Peter Bell from the UK and manager Oscar Zandian. Amanda Berggren takes all my photos and videos and my social media is managed by Zed Tosti.
Q: What have been your biggest achievements so far?
Diego: I have had three professional fights so far. I won all of them, with three knockouts.
Paul: All three people that Diego knocked out were never knocked out before. Diego is the first Spanish boxer to be sponsored by Sports Direct UK and Everlast [the biggest name in the boxing industry] with a proper contract. That speaks volumes in terms of recognition of his talent. He got this as they see him as a massive up and coming talent from Spain. Normally, Everlast only sponsors champions, but they sponsored him straight away!
Q: Tell me about this upcoming fight?
Diego: It is on June 7, at 7pm, at Palau d’Esports Melani Costa in Calvia. The tickets are now on sale from Fit Club, my trainer Paul and me. More selling points will be announced shortly.
Paul: Due to technical reasons, tickets for this fight are not sold online, but we are working on enabling that for future fights in Mallorca.
Q: How are you preparing for the fight?
Diego: I am currently in camp, following a program of training and nutrition designed by my team that I talked about earlier. It will be the first time that I will be fighting eight rounds rather than six. That’s another step up that I am getting ready for.
Q: What do you expect on the day?
Diego: I expect… to knock him out! [laughs] What else?
Paul: The opponent is a good fighter. He's coming “to spoil the party” and it’s Diego’s job to stop him. He is much taller than Diego; he has a lot more experience, so it is going to be a tough fight, it won´t be a “walk over”. We are stepping up the level, not just on the rounds, but on the opponents. It is all about learning. Diego is “working on the job”. I teach to go forward, not to go back. If we go back, we’re making mistakes. I don’t make mistakes. And that’s not being over confident. I just like winning. I bring the British way of training to Diego. When he is “in camp” he trains twice a day, he sticks to the diet. He doesn’t get to go out. He doesn’t drink. Being a boxer is very unsociable. You work unsociable hours and have no time for social life.
Q: What are your plans for the future? You win this – then what?
Paul: We’ll take that when it comes. One fight at the time.
Diego: My plan is to keep winning! And when something else comes, we’ll take it. I have only been fighting in Spain so far. The idea is to go to England soon… then America…
Q: Do you have any comments on training professionally in Mallorca? Are you happy with the facilities?
Diego: I think that Mallorca is a very good place to train.
Paul: Mallorca is amazing; I don’t know why more sports people are not using it. The weather is perfect. In our sport, there are a lot of problems. For sparring partners we’ve had to fly people in from the mainland. I get a lot of high level people coming to train here from England and I get them to spar with Diego. I think that Mallorca has better sporting facilities than England. Soon enough, it should work a lot better here.
Diego: In Fact Mallorca has both very good things and very bad things. You got all the distractions here. It’s a party island, so for a young man, if you are not sure what you want, you get carried away. It happens often.
Q: Is there government help for talented sports men and women?
Diego: Not really. I’m sponsored by private companies such as Sports Direct UK and Everlast that we already talked about. Others include: Fit Club, Mansion, Med54, Bruno restaurant, Ryze and Skyda.
Paul: There is no government help when you are a professional. Then it’s a job. Diego’s job is a boxer; he gets paid to do that.
Diego: My job is punching people’s faces! [laughs]
Q: Diego, what is your message for the kids looking up to you?
Diego: It’s a very good sport. I would recommend boxing to everyone, not just kids. It’s very beneficial for your mental health as well as physical. It helps you build confidence and a lot of other things. I don’t have much free time, but I am always happy to give advice to the kids starting up in this sport. They can feel free to approach me.
Q: Brilliant! Any final messages for our readers?
Paul: I personally need people to get behind Diego. Boxing is a business, it’s about bums on seats. Without the support of the public Diego will struggle to accomplish his dreams. As we go further up the ladder, the fights get more expensive. Sooner or later, if we keep what we are doing, we will be filling up sports centres, arenas, to be able to pay for the fights that we want to have. The only way to be able to do that is by getting people to support us! Bulgarian, Spanish, English or whatever… Come to the fight on June 7 and cheer for Diego! He is talented and he will win! It will be a night to remember!
Thank you both for your time. Come on! Vamos! Давай!
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